Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Nuclear (RAIN)

Abstract

The nuclear industry has some of the most extreme environments in the world, with radiation levels and other hazards frequently restricting human access to facilities. Even when human entry is possible, the risks can be significant and very low levels of productivity. To date, robotic systems have had limited impact on the nuclear industry, but it is clear that they offer considerable opportunities for improved productivity and significantly reduced human risk. The nuclear industry has a vast array of highly complex and diverse challenges that span the entire industry: decommissioning and waste management, Plant Life Extension (PLEX), Nuclear New Build (NNB), small modular reactors (SMRs) and fusion.

Whilst the challenges across the nuclear industry are varied, they share many similarities that relate to the extreme conditions that are present. Vitally these similarities also translate across into other environments, such as space, oil and gas and mining, all of which, for example, have challenges associated with radiation (high energy cosmic rays in space and the presence of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in mining and oil and gas). Major hazards associated with the nuclear industry include radiation; storage media (for example water, air, vacuum); lack of utilities (such as lighting, power or communications); restricted access; unstructured environments.

These hazards mean that some challenges are currently intractable in the absence of solutions that will rely on future capabilities in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI). Reliable robotic systems are not just essential for future operations in the nuclear industry, but they also offer the potential to transform the industry globally. In decommissioning, robots will be required to characterise facilities (e.g. map dose rates, generate topographical maps and identify materials), inspect vessels and infrastructure, move, manipulate, cut, sort and segregate waste and assist operations staff. To support the life extension of existing nuclear power plants, robotic systems will be required to inspect and assess the integrity and condition of equipment and facilities and might even be used to implement urgent repairs in hard to reach areas of the plant. Similar systems will be required in NNB, fusion reactors and SMRs.

Furthermore, it is essential that past mistakes in the design of nuclear facilities, which makes the deployment of robotic systems highly challenging, do not perpetuate into future builds. Even newly constructed facilities such as CERN, which now has many areas that are inaccessible to humans because of high radioactive dose rates, has been designed for human, rather than robotic intervention. Another major challenge that RAIN will grapple with is the use of digital technologies within the nuclear sector. Virtual and Augmented Reality, AI and machine learning have arrived but the nuclear sector is poorly positioned to understand and use these rapidly emerging technologies.

RAIN will deliver the necessary step changes in fundamental robotics science and establish the pathways to impact that will enable the creation of a research and innovation ecosystem with the capability to lead the world in nuclear robotics. While our centre of gravity is around nuclear we have a keen focus on applications and exploitation in a much wider range of challenging environments.

Planned Impact

The nuclear industry is of enormous importance to UK society and its economy both in the short and long-term. Decommissioning the UK's legacy facilities is currently costing the UK Government approximately £3Bn/year, with estimates of its total cost over the next 120 years ranging from £90Bn-220Bn. Investment in Nuclear New Build (NNB) before 2030 is expected to be approximately £60Bn and the cost of building and operating a geological disposal facility is approximately £14Bn.

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) has a significant part to play in the UK's decommissioning programme with the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) estimating 20% of the costs of complex decommissioning projects will be spent on RAI, assuming the continued reliance on bespoke single use solutions. RAIN will deliver innovation in modular, reusable robotics with the target of achieving >20% improvements in cost and productivity in decommissioning and zero-human entries in to radioactive facilities. Conservative estimates by NNL indicate that robotic systems have already resulted in productivity improvements of >10% and that RAI has the potential to reduce decommissioning costs across the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) estate by approximately £11.7Bn.

New RAI technologies will lower costs and timescales, reduce risk and improve safety in high consequence interventions. The exposure of human workers to radiation and other hazards will be reduced significantly with the adoption of RAI and with reliable remote inspection of existing facilities possible, there is the potential to increase the life-span of the UK's existing reactor fleet, helping to secure the country's future energy provision.

Decommissioning legacy nuclear facilities and the inspection of new and old nuclear power plants is not a problem confined to the UK. The race to develop nuclear weapons and prototype reactors has left considerable decommissioning challenges in the USA, Russia, Korea and many other nat In 2014 the IAEA recorded that there were a total of 438 nuclear reactors in operation with a further 59 under construction. The cost of decommissioning these reactors, legacy facilities and the additional 150 reactors that are already in permanent shutdown will cost approximately £1T. The development of reliable, functional robotic systems has the potential to transform decommissioning operations in all these countries and hence the export market for nuclear robotics is vast. The UK has an established reputation for delivering world leading nuclear science research and innovative decommissioning solutions and thus has the potential to become the recognised world leader in nuclear robotics.

The widespread adoption of RAI in the nuclear industry will also have a knock-on effect, that will support the use of robotics in other extreme environments, such as space for off-planet missions and in-orbit satellite design and maintenance and offshore operations, where it is estimated that up to 150 platforms around the UK will require decommissioning in the next 10 years and that the decommissioning costs in the North Sea alone will total £50Bn - £60Bn over the next 25 years.

A number of industrial demonstrator activities have been undertaken that have been supported by RAIN researchers:
Sellafield: The CARMA robot became the first autonomous robot to ever be deployed on the Sellafield site. This has established a pathway for transferring robot platforms on to site and a significant case study that will support making robotic deployments at Sellafield commonplace.
The MIRRAX robot became the first robot to be deployed into the Magnox reprocessing facility. This facility had not been entered for many years and this entry enabled the generation of a 3D image of the facility that will provide valuable support to the decommissioning of this facility , which is being explored through the Innovate UK funded IIND programme.
AWE: A 'white' trial has taken place to illustrate the ability of a tracked vehicle to explore and measure the radiation within an unknown legacy environment on the AWE site. An on-site trial is planned in early 2019.
Some of the robots and systems being developed in RAIN are now being commercialised. For example, the CARMA robot is now being commercialised by Nuvia for radiation monitoring across the global nuclear industry. Localisation and path planning techniques developed within RAIN are now being integrated on to products marketed by TPLC and Forth Engineering and will be commercialised in the nuclear and cleaning industries.

This facility will enable the RAIN team to develop and test algorithms, control strategies, etc. continuously across a range of research areas. The facility will allow for collaboration between institutes, and hubs.

Title

Drum Radiological models and Drum Scanning Models

Description

Valentin Piau (supervised by Guido Herrmann) from École Nationale Supérieure de Physique, Électronique et Matériaux, Grenoble, France, submitted final report for his 3 months (June-August 2018) project on "Automated ILW drum scanning using a robot manipulator - Development of a simulation tool". This tool is to be the basis of alpha, beta and gamma inspection algorithms for decommissioning. Gamma Source, Drum, drum material and gamma detector models have been developed. KUKA based scanning algorithms have been tested in simulation (relevant to NCNR and RAIN).
Detail to be updated as work advances.

Type Of Material

Computer model/algorithm

Year Produced

2018

Provided To Others?

No

Impact

The models will be an important basis to practical scanning algorithms for other Researchers. Detail to be updated as work advances.

Description

AWE - Disruptive technologies collaboration

Organisation

Atomic Weapons Establishment

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

We have been working with the AWE as collaborators providing them with intelligence about new sensor technologies arising from the grant. Specifically AWE have been engaging on the development of low power sensor pobs for monitoring temperature, humidity and radiation intensity.

Collaborator Contribution

The have attended Industrial Advisory Board meetings, provided contacts within BEIS and established a side project on sensor developments for monitoring storage environments at the Aldermaston site. We have been advised that they will let us deploy our sensor units on the Aldermaston site as a significant demonstration of the technology. They have also provided access to their advanced SIMS capability to make quantification of Boron in the diamond films we've been making.

Impact

This partnership has led to us developing a PCB version of our prototype sensor pod technology that will be purchased and deployed by the AWE as a prototype demonstration. The project has been inherently cross-disciplinary involving electronic engineers, device physicists and materials scientists.

Start Year

2017

Description

CARMA

Organisation

Sellafield Ltd

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

UoM developed the prototype CARMA robotic platform.

Collaborator Contribution

Sellafield Ltd ave provided engineering support and access to active facilities on the Sellafield site.

Impact

This collaboration has resulted in two deployments of the CARMA platform into active areas on the Sellafield site.

Start Year

2017

Description

Collaboration with KUKA Systems UK Limited on bimanual teleoperation

Organisation

KMG Systems Ltd

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

Development of research and demonstration platform. Contribution of expertise. Provision of facilities and equipment.

Collaborator Contribution

Provided access to equipment and facilities including 2 robot arms. Provided expertise and information to support.

Impact

Establishment of a 2-armed robotic research and demonstration platform at RACE, UKAEA.

Start Year

2018

Description

MIRRAX

Organisation

Sellafield Ltd

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The MIRRAX ground vehicle was designed for accessing and surveying radioactive facilities through very narrow ports (150 mm). MIRRAX was successfully designed and tested using university facilities and in March 2018, the robot was deployed in an active facility on the Sellafield site, where is successfully generated a 3D scan of the environment. This scan will be used in future decommissioning plans.

Collaborator Contribution

Sellafield Ltd provide technical and logistic support and in March 2018 provided access to one of their active facilities.

Impact

Deployment and generation of 3D scan of active facility to ai with future decommissioning plans.

Dr Andrew Weightman and colleagues at The University of Manchester will apply their expertise and experience to supervise an industrial PhD student to develop soft robotic systems for inspection of nuclear sites.

Collaborator Contribution

NNL will host the industrial PhD student at their site in Workington. NNL will provide access to suitable equipment and facilities and facilitate engagement with key stakeholders to identify specific problems to focus on.

Visit of RACE, Culham, with Final 4th Year MEng Group and 3rd Year Project Students

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

Visit of RACE (Alessandro Altobelli, Ozan Tokatli) in London, 4 March 2019: A final, fourth year student group of five and a third year project student visited with me RACE at Culham to gain further knowledge about the KUKA-based teleoperation system of RACE, their robotic hand research and their nuclear robotics work. This was an excellent opportunity for the final, fourth year student group as it is working on a teleoperation system in their final year project. The third year student is developing a tendon driven robotic hand. The knowledge exchange with Shadow Robotics can lead to further discussions in the area of teleoperation and hand control.

A joint workshop (11th Sept 2018) organised by the University of York, University of Liverpool and Office for Nuclear Regulation. There were presentations from the Universities of Liverpool and York, and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). The workshop was well attended, with attendees from both academia and industry who had an interest in robotics, autonomy, AI, safety, assurance, and certification.There were attendees who are involved in the RAIN Hub, Assuring Autonomy programme, and the Office for Nuclear Regulation. In the afternoon, there was a lively discussion session about safety cases and robotics in the nuclear industry, trying to elicit the scenarios and requirements of such systems.

Attending Human-Agent Interaction conference to disseminate research and learn about SoA, Southampton, 2018

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Research disseminated and future collaborations developed

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Attending event on advances in robotics and social impcats (ARSO) in Genoa, 2018

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Engaging with academics to discuss the impact of robotics on policy, society and global work structures. Leading to collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

BEIS OPSS International Regulatory Delivery Conference

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Policy.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Babcock-Cavendish collaboration and meetings on nuclear waste and plant inspection

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

A workshop organised by the South West Nuclear Hub for the purposes of sharing information on our research on nuclear waste and nuclear plant inspection.This specifically included diamond detectors as well as laser-driven gamma and neutron imaging of waste packages.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Bessemer Society Meeting

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Networking.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Big meet nuclear training

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

We hosted a RAIN Big meet and on the second day coordinated training in Nuclear energy. We invited researchers from the NCNR hub to attend. A group came along and said they appreciated the lectures and the interaction with the RAIN hub members.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Bright Sparks engagement with local school children

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

Demonstrating swarm robotics and robotics for nuclear at the Bright Sparks finale. There were pupils from 3 schools local to Cumbria at the event.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

British Solar Renewables meet

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussing the potential for a remote inspection demonstrator, targeted at solar farms.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Business and Innovation Magazine interview

Form Of Engagement Activity

A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Media (as a channel to the public)

Results and Impact

Media

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

CARMA for PHUMS deployment

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Engagement with Sellafield and Cavendish to discuss alternative radiometric tools for use on CARMA robot

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

CPAC - RACE - ORCA, SL, RR, EDF

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Industry Visit

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

CZT for MIRRAX

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion of the integration of CZT sensor with MIRRAX robot, speaking with radiometry and different stakeholder groups at Sellafiled, additional demonstration of CARMA robot at REE Laboratory in Cumbria. Potential loan of equipment for deployment scenario, further engagement with radiometric team to discuss design requirements and doses.

In this event, Nottingham team demonstrated to use a continuum robot for manipulating a flexible gripper (a flexible rubber balloon filled with fine particles actuated by vacuum) to pick some objects with random shapes. It is potential interest of aerospace and nuclear industry.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Design and development of a slender dual-structure continuum robot for in-situ aeroengine repair

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

The latest development of a slender dual-stage continuum robot was presented in the IROS 2019 at Madrid and a paper titled of 'Design and Development of a Slender Dual-Structure Continuum Robot for In-situ Aeroengine Repair' was published in this world-leading robotics related conference.

British Solar Renewables are very interested in the remote inspection and monitoring of their large solar farms. Whilst this isn't nuclear it's very very similar in a lot of respects: long term change detection but using IR cameras (looking for hotspots on panels). Plan to take this forward to proposal either to RAIN, Lloyds or IUK.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discuss possibility of future projects

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion with WOOD regarding possibility of future projects

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discussed potential outreach activity for 2019 with head of activites at FACT, Liverpool

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

Invited by director of activities at FACT, Liverpool, to arrange future outreach lectures on the impact of robotics to industry and society.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discussion with NDA

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Input to Policy

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discussion with NDF

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discussion with Nick Akiona

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion with Nick Akiona of Accenture Labs on uses of ORI tech for inspection tasks

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Discussion with Oxford University

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discussion with Sellafield and NNL regarding engagement with RAIN

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting with senior engineers and innovation managers from Sellafield and the National Nuclear Laboratory to discuss current and future collaboration opportunities and working with RAIN

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Discussion with Sellafield and NNL regarding engagement with RAIN

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting between RAIN directors and people from Sellafield and NNL regarding current and future work with RAIN

Meeting with EDF Head of Security for Hinkley Point C to discuss the use of sensor and robotic systems for site security and surveillance.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Engaged with multiple RAIN partners at IROS Conference, Madrid, 2018, to discuss current and future collaboration

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Attended a variety of meetings throughout the conference to further RAIN research

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Engineering in Practice Lecture, Oxford Univ

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

All of OU Yr1 Eng Sci

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Ess Industry Day

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Industry Visit

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Fukushima site visit

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Future of Nuclear Robotics Safety Cases

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

This was the first in a series of workshops. It introduced the current certification processes, highlights some of the issues as we move towards more sophisticated Robotics and AI solutions, and discussed the way forward. We had have talks by representatives from the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester and York, and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

17-19/10/18 - Gave an invited talk at the AAAI 2018 Fall Symposium on Reasoning and Learning in Real-World Systems for Long-Term Autonomy and also represented RAIN paper (SOMA). DIscussions with other academics plus industry (Cogitai and Nissan).

IMechE Nuclear Decommissioning Knowledge Capture Workshop - 13 February 2019: Research Associate, Kaiqiang Zhang, and I participated. This was an ideal opportunity to meet various industrial and governmental stakeholders across Europe involved in various aspects of nuclear decommissioning. The event took place at the Office of Nuclear Regulations in Bootle. (This is reported for NCNR and RAIN)

The potential collaboration was discussed and a preliminary agreement was made during this visiting

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Inter-operable Robotics Workshop

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

International Robotics Showcase

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Stand at the international robotics showcase, including 3 robotic platforms that we demonstrated to attendees. About the event:The full-day programme includes exclusive talks by world-renowned experts in science and technology, panel discussions, exhibitions, robot demonstrations and an award ceremony for competition winners demonstrating cutting-edge robotics innovation.

The release of several new White Papers, covering the current research landscape in:Urban Automation & TransportAgriTechThe day also offers academics, industry, government organisations and the public, the opportunity to enjoy the fascinating and diverse exhibits by our sponsors, as well as provide a lively forum for discussion and discovery of some of the latest technological developments and research challenges in Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

The event will take place within the 2018 International Business Festival and a 9 day pass is included within your registration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Interview for BBC Click

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Media (as a channel to the public)

Results and Impact

During attending the Farnborough Air Show 2018 in the UK, James Kell from Rolls-Royce plc was interviewed by the BBC Click and he had talked about the advanced On-Wing technology which has been developed at RR UTC at University of Nottingham.

Invited talk at the Annual Meeting of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, March 2018

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

The invited talk was well received and was preceded by talks by officials from the British Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, and it extended awareness of our detector-related robotic activities to the wider Atomic Energy community in Japan consolidating further collaboration and engagement.

An invited talk given to employees and researchers at the Slovenian reactor institute, including people from the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency and the Japanese National Maritime Research Institute.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Ipsos-MORI survey interview, 06/12/2018

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Ipsos-MORI survey interview, 06/12/2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Ipsus Morri survey participation

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Ipsus Morri survey participation to support RAIN performance analysis

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

KTN RAI industrial showcase

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

KTN RAI Industry event. RAIN director Professor Lennox gave a presentation, joint with Sellafield and Forth engineering, on the development of the AVEXIS and the success of the collaboration. The event was well attended and a lot of people came to talk to us at the stand.

Hosted the lego robots schools tournament. There were 9 teams from different schools across Greater Manchester in attendance. These children had been engaged with researchers whilst developing their robots, stimulating interest in robotics.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Lego Rovers a Great Hollingworth Academy

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

A workshop on Mars Rovers and AI Programming was delivered to a 5 classes as part of a Year 9 enrichment day.

9 lego robot programming workshops were run for families over three days. This was to tie in with the National Trusts Women and Power theme, and Speke Hall's Vigorous Victorians theme which featured Ada Lovelace. The workshops were well received with most families reporting that it got them to discuss issues around robots and artificial intelligence with their family and friends.

A series of 20 workshops on programming autonomous systems delivered to families as part of Manchester Science Festival. Children were highly engaged and there were questions on future directions from parents.

Presentation on REE Laboratory and the Robotics for Extreme Environment Group (REEG) and wider research program including RNE and RAIN to members of the Japanese BEIS/NDA (METI), organised by BECBC (British Energy Coast Business Cluster). Members of the UK nuclear industry present including NNL, Sellafield Ltd, CoNE, North West Nuclear Arc Consortium, Dalton Nuclear Institute (University of Manchester) and local business influencers. Specifically spoke about the research undertaken by the programmes and the impact locally and advantages of having close ties and engagement with the nuclear industry. Jan 2019

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

MIRRAX- Development and Deployment

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Technology engagement to discuss MIRRAX development for particular site deployment, and design of robot and corresponding collimator requirements for deployment scenario, Sept 2019.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Maeeting with Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kyoto University

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Presenting on technological developments to solve nuclear challenges

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Meeting and visit with CreaTec

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

CreaTec visited ORI to discuss collab with Ioannis Havoutis

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Brichwood

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Brichwood

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Brichwood

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Meeting with NNL at Birchwood, Warrington

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Brichwood

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Brichwood

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Workington

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Meeting at NNL, Workingotn, 26th January 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting at National Nuclear Laboratories, Workington

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Meeting at NNL, Workington, 30th May 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting to discuss potential for research project

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion with The Perfect Little Company regarding potential research project

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with AWE re sensor units

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting with AWE regarding the use of their Kromek D3S sensor units for integration into robotic ground and aerial systems for surveys. A loan of 5 sensors was agreed.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with British Solar Renewables

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Talked to British Solar Renewables about a possible long term inspection and monitoring application at solar farms.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with Createc

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Initial meeting between RAIN and Createc. Lots of overlapping interests and technological skills between RAIN and Createc in the space of remote inspection. Createc have a test site at RACE and offices in Oxford, so we will try to build on this to support RIWG activities at least.

Demonstration of current developments of the Virtual Reality lab for remote manipulation at the University of Manchester. Mr Burns provided a description of the different activities at Sellafield Ltd related with glove boxes, and the meeting was designed to design a demonstration related with these activities. The meeting was also attended by Robert Skilton (RACE) and Inmo Jang (PDRA at University of Manchester).

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Meeting with Lord Giddens and Lord Puttnam at the House of Lords

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Meeting with Lord Puttnam and Lord Giddens to advise on latest developments in robotics and AI. Lord Puttnam and Giddens are both members fo the Parliamentary AI Committee.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with NDF

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Meeting with NDF

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with National Nuclear Laboratories and Sellafield, at NNL Workington

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting with National Nuclear Laboratories and Sellafield, at NNL Workington

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with National Nuclear Laboratories at Liverpool

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Meeting with National Nuclear Laboratories at Liverpool

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with National Nuclear Laboratories at Liverpool

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Meeting with National Nuclear Laboratories at University of Liverpool, 14th May 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with Nuclear AMRC

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Presenting on technological developments to solve nuclear challenges

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Meeting with ORI and MRF

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Workshop with ORI and UKAEA Materials Research Facility to discuss opportunities for mobile mapping and recovery.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation (Liverpool 2017)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Participated in a meeting at University of Liverpool (20th December 2017) with members of the RAIN Hub and the Office of Nuclear Regulation. The impact of this was to shape future research directions.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation, Bootle

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation, Bootle

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation, Bootle

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation, Bootle

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation, Bootle

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Meeting with Office for Nuclear Regulation, Bootle

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with Peter Scarfe and William Harwin at Reading University to develop remote handling grant application

Meeting as a follow-up from the Uranium Science conference to discuss next steps for heightened collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Meeting with VNS

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with VNS(UK)

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meeting with Wood Nuclear at Liverpool

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting with Wood Nuclear at Liverpool

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Meeting with student group at Manchester

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

Attended briefing session for a group of students at Manchester, incluing briefings and Q&A on Fusion robotics and UKAEA business model.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Meetings with ORCA members at Heriot-Watt to discuss cross-hub activities

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

20/11/18 - Meetings with ORCA members at Heriot-Watt to discuss cross-hub activities

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Member of expert panel at LivWise event at Liverpool University to discuss the future of robotics and its social impact

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Discussed the future of robotics as an expert member of a panel of robotics specialists to a large, broad audience of academics and the general public.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Met with Createc to discuss nuclear inspeciton and robotics

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

8/11/18 - Met with Createc to discuss nuclear inspeciton and robotics

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Met with Manolis Chiou from University of Birmingham,

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Met with Manolis Chiou from University of Birmingham, part of NCNR hub, to collaborate on mixed initiative autonomy

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Multiple meetings with National Nuclear Labs to discuss and plan out future collaborations

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Over 2018 multiple visits were made to NNL in Workington and Liverpool, and members of NNL visited Liverpool University, in order to devise collaborative work for the future of RAIN on HRI.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

NAS - Washington

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Industry Visit

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

NDA Nuclear Supply Chain

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

NDA stakeholder summit

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Demonstrate CARMA and AVEXIS to NDA stakeholders. Showing our innovations in robotics for decommissioning and highlighting the progress in collaboration to date to ensure a pipeline of innovative technologies and skilled capability.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

NDA visit and comms

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visit from the NDA to our REE Laboratory in West Cumbria, meeting with the communications department to demonstrate robotics technology. Videos were taken on the CARMA and MALLARD robots in addition to documentation of the MIRRAX robot in construction, engagement with researchers. Photos and videos were used in wider publicity about our robotics technologies and advancements, Oct 2018.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

NDF - Tokyo

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

NIA Dinner

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Networking Event

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

NWRDF mtg hosted by RACE

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

New Scientist Interview

Form Of Engagement Activity

A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Interview with New Scientist - outreach public engagement

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Newsletter to industry

Form Of Engagement Activity

Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Newsletter distributed to industry contacts highlighting blog posts on the website. More than 75% of recipients engaged with the newsletter.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Nuclear Waste & Decommissioning Research Forum

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Presenting on technological developments to solve nuclear challenges

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Nuclear academics meeting

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Other audiences

Results and Impact

The meeting provides a forum for academics working on nuclear energy related research, from new build through to decommissioning of existing reactors, to discuss topics of common interest. This year there were national and international speakers from industry, government, funding bodies and academia.

In this one-day workshop we will bring together experts from the diverse range of disciplines and encompass engineers, computer scientists, cognitive scientists and sensor developers, to discuss topics relating to fusion of vision and touch sensing.

In this event, we have presented two systems; the hexapod and the snake-like robot The hexapod has high mobility, machining capability and versatility through the use of different leg layouts, a specialised stiffness mechanism and ability to deploy different tools. The snake-like robot with a slender and flexible construction such that it can be used for the mapping inside of gloveboxes.

Participation in AI Roundtable at the Royal Society in London to discuss future technology impacts

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

50+ experts invited to discuss the future of technology upon national and international policy, including the impacts of AI to industry.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Pint of Science Talk

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

Dr Watson gave a talk as part of the Manchester Pint of Science Festival during the Robot Revolution session, entitled "Are Robots just Spanners or Evil Overlords in Waiting?". The event was open to the general public and was sold out. The talk was well received and sparked a lot of discussion and debate so that the Q&A session afterwards lasted well over an hour (15 minutes were originally scheduled).

A talk covering the implementation of reasoning in machines and philosophical issues associated with computers and thought.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Remote Handling Industry Workshop

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

One day event organised by RAIN at the Nuclear AMRC in Rotherham with the aim of identifying the key challenges in the nuclear industry related to remote handling. Approximately 30 people attended from the UK nuclear industry (Sellafield, AWE, EDF, James Fisher Nuclear, etc). The outcomes of this workshop included influencing future research within RAIN, the establishment of joint industry / RAIN working groups to explore this topic further and identification of specific challenges where RAIN technology can be deployed in the short term.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Remote Handling Working Group Workshop

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Follow on meeting for the remote handing user group to discuss gloveboxes and the potential use of robotics. Getting insight and feedback from user groups and industry.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Remote Inspection Industry Meeting

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

One day event organised by RAIN at the Culham Science Centre with the aim of identifying the key challenges in the nuclear industry related to remote inspection. Approximately 40 people attended from the UK nuclear industry (Sellafield, AWE, EDF, James Fisher Nuclear, etc). The outcomes of this workshop included influencing future research within RAIN, the establishment of joint industry / RAIN working groups to explore this topic further and identification of specific challenges where RAIN technology can be deployed in the short term.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Research meeting at UKAEA (RACE)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting at Culham to look at practical aspects of safety/verifiability

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Robotic demonstration for the AWE Unknown Room project

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Providing a demonstration in Physics for radiation mapping and 3D scanning plus additional contamination pickup tests. Joint project with Manchester to develop a robot surveying system for mapping radiological hazard (gamma and neutron dose) inside an unknown room (a very old legacy facility where human entry hasn't been permitted for years).

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Robotics Investor Event

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Private Investment in Robotics Start-up

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Robotics R&D Engagement Sellafield

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios, May 2018. Following up engagement following industry demonstration.

Demonstration of mature robotics technologies including CARMA 2 (most recent version), CARMA EDD and MALLARD in addition to discussions about other platforms in build or development. Stakeholders from Sellafield Ltd, different plants on site interested in active demonstrations for robotics technologies. Further discussions and deployment plans organised as an outcome.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Robotics technology demonstration

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Demonstration of robotics technologies including CARMA and MALLARD robots at REE laboratory in west Cumbria to RACE stakeholders. Understanding of technical capabilities at site including test facilities and researcher capabilities, Oct 2018.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Rolls Royce workshop on Haptics hosted at RACE

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion with RR on potential collaborations related to haptics.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Rolls-Royce visitor (Iain Wright) on robotics research at UTC of UoN

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Robotics group at RR UTC of UoN present all the projects funded by Innovate UK, EPSRC, RR plc.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

RollsRoyce NNB visit

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting with Rolls Royce to discuss the use of robotics and sensor systems for the Small Modular Reactor concept they are developing. 2 visitors from Rolls Royce

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Roundtable on 'Roundtable discussion on 'Engaging with the public with Artificial Intelligence: What can we do?' as part of the Oxford Public Engagement with Research event - 5/7/18

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

Roundtable on 'Roundtable discussion on 'Engaging with the public with Artificial Intelligence: What can we do?' as part of the Oxford Public Engagement with Research event - 5/7/18

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

SOFT conference - Sicily

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Conference

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

SPRINT Conference USA - Visit to NASA

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Conference

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

SPRINT Robotics Demonstration Event

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

In this event, University of Nottingham took two continuum robots to Rotterdam. The audiences from Oil, chemistry and energy industry presented hugh interest to the robots which we are further developing in the Rain hub, making the hub more widely known. Few potential links for further collaboration could be formed.

This was using the sport of roller derby to stimulate teenage children to be interested in STEM subjects. A short roller derby game was organised, in which everyone playing or officiating was a female / non-binary person working in STEM. Teenage girls were invited to watch with their parents. After the game, children got into groups of 3 and networked with the STEM professionals. This was "speed networking" whereby each group would chat for 8 minutes before moving onto someone else. Topics for discussion were suggested at each rotation. This was repeated for approximately 1 hour. A huge array of STEM careers were represented and the girls were highly engaged and interested in the conversations.

Following the event, national and international organisations have shown interest in repeating this activity.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

School visit to the lab

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

School children visited the robotics lab as part of a tour of engineering departments coordinated by the UoM social responsibility team. There were questions and discussions by the students, about robotics and engineering at university. The school reported the visit was worthwhile.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Sellafield Future Projects Meeting

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion of short research proposals for future projects drawing on REE Laboratory capability and opportunities for collaboration, Nov 2018.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios. Discussion on future research project (IAA) and clearance for site access for robotic deployments, Sept 2018.

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development and future deployment scenarios, April 2018.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios. Discussion on progress of security paperwork for researchers deploying technologies on site and aims for 2019 for active deployments. Jan 2019

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development and future deployment scenarios, March 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development and future deployment scenarios, End April 2018.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Formalised discussion of deployment dates for next 6 months for MIRRAX and CARMA platforms, and discussion of other technology possibilities and deployment scenarios to aim for in future. Jan 2019.

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios including MALLARD robot and demonstration of capability at REE Laboratory in Cumbria, June 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement 2019

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion of timeline for next 6 months relating to CARMA and MIRRAX deployments and required developments to platforms. Jan 2019

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and demonstration of CARMA robot to industry audience in non-active environment.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement and Deployment

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Robotics and deployment scenario engagement with Sellafield Ltd, discussion to prepare realistic mock-up scenario for demonstration of robotic capability to stakeholders. Following discussion, design and preparation of scenario completed, further feedback delivered.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement and Deployment Scenarios

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios. Showcase day of robotics technology in collaboration with Sellafield Ltd to engage with Postgraduate students and future researchers, Dec 2018

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios. Discussion on site clearance and security procedures required for deployment of robotic technologies on site, August 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Sellafield Mobile Robots Engagement- CZT

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion on successful integrtion of Ritec CZT sensor into MIRRAX platform. Sellafield Ltd representative was made aware of the technologies we have at REE Laboratory and given tour and demonstration of available technologies. Jan 2019

Mobile ground robotics research project engagement, discussing research development, progress to date and future deployment scenarios. Loan of CZT radiometric sensor for MIRRAX development and deployment, discussion of integration of sensor into robot and technical site details. Dec 2018.

Engagement with security and clearance team within Sellafield Ltd to discuss access requirements for researchers involved with robotics deployments. Discussion and presentation regarding the robotics platforms and demonstrations of technologies to new group of stakeholders. Generated new discussions around the technologies and wider understanding within new areas of the nuclear industry.

The VEX Robotics competition is a national competition in which students build robots from a kit of dedicated parts to accomplish a specific task. The activity was supported by staff and researchers on RAIN and TORONE to assist and also to judge the students' entries.

Sellafield site induction and tour, in addition to introductions and discussions with non-technical site staff about our research programme and innovative robotic technologies, designed for the nuclear industry. Furthermore, following the meetings, an invitation to showcase the research programme on site to business leaders was received.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Sonomatic: Robotics Engagement

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meeting with Sonomatic technical and business areas to discuss robotics advancements and developments and to discuss use of facilities, collaboration opportunities and deployment scenarios Sept 2018. Specific introductions made to both RNE and RAIN research programmes .

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Space:Late at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

A stand demonstrating lego Mars Rovers featuring as part of an evening "Space:Late" event at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Many enthusiastic and interested discussions with members of the public.

A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

Dr. Dennis participated in a panel interview on the future of robotics run by the BBC at Manchester Science Festival in front of a live audience. It was live-streamed on various social media channels and subsequently made available on iPlayer.

Presentation to members of Tuv Sud on REE Laboratory and the overview of the robotics projects in REEG including RNE and RAIN, demonstration of robotics technology including videos and live demo of CARMA robot. Discussion on future placements of researchers and PhD students, as well as access requirements to testing and mock-up scenarios. Jan 2019.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

UK Government's Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board, NIRAB.

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

I am a serving member of the UK Government's Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board, NIRAB.

Joined the ISCF RAI in Extreme Environments programme team to talk about the RAIN hub to up to 3000 UKRI staff. Presented one of our robotic platforms and discussed the Hub.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Uni of Oxford Open day - Betty Demo

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

University of Oxford and Pembroke College Open Day - Betty demo at Pembroke, plus two talks on AI/Robotics to Prospective Students

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

VPS and SL Site tour

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visit to VPS and Sellafield site to engage specifically with stakeholder groups on site, with deployment opportunities in mind for the CARMA robot. Following visit, 3 different site areas are engage with deployment opportunities. Aug 2018

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

VaVas workshop and demo - accepted for presentation in July 2018

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

VaVas demo paper and workshop

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Venturefest Oxford

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Investor Event

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit From NDF

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit KUKA Robotics UK

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

On 11 JUL 2018, the robotic research team led by Dr. Guido Herrmann visited KUKA Robotics UK. The visit aimed to clarify the current KUKA-robot applications in the UK nuclear industry and explore the possibility to deploy KUKA light weight robots in nuclear decommissioning projects. KUKA Robotics introduced two different approaches to control different KUKA robots for nuclear decommissioning. Then, Bristol's research team had a discussion with the KUKA robotics engineers about the possible approaches to control KUKA light weight robots (LBR).

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit by AWE

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit by BBC Radio Merseyside to take video footage and do interview in robotics lab Liverpool University

Form Of Engagement Activity

A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

BBC Radio came to Liverpool University to discuss AI and robotics

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit by F4E

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit by NAMRC

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit by Strategy Director, NDA

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

NDA Visit

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit by peers from the National Maritime Research Institute, Japan

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Three senior researchers from the National Maritime Research Institute in Japan visited the UK to discuss Fukushima-related developments with Lancaster, Manchester and the Dalton Cumbria Institute.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Visit from AMTC Exec Team

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Abnormal Load Engineering (ALE)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Alex Tesini European Commission

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Discussion with Key Partner re fusion

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Visit from Assistant Secretary, US DOE

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from CEO Animal Dynamics Ltd

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparations for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from CEO NAMRC

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Visit from CEO OION

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for Investor Event

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Visit from CEO, Veolia

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Chairman UKRI

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Visit by Chairman of UKRI - Sir John Kingman

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from David Willetts

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Resolution Foundation

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Director of ARPA-E US DOE

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Dynium Robot

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from EDF Energy

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from EDF Energy

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Other audiences

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from F4E

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from F4E

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Generics Robotics Ltd

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from High Court Judge

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Discussion re AI

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from IRID

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from KUKA

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Magics

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Manufacturing Technology Centre

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Visit from Minister - VNS

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Ministerial Visit

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from NASA

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

NASA Visit

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from NDA

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from NNL

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from NNL

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Visit from Prof Kings College

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Visit from Prof Surrey University

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

University Visit.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Prof UCL

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

Academia

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Prof University of Tokyo

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

Academia

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Prof University of York

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Prof, York University

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

Academia - Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Prof, Queen Mary university

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Media (as a channel to the public)

Results and Impact

Preparation for international collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Profs, Brunel University

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

Preparation for national collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from RACE / Sellafield Opportunities

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Rolls-Royce

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

To outline the vision for growing the Mechatronics centre at the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center at the University of Nottingham.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2015,2019

Description

Visit from Rolls-Royce group led by CTO Paul Stain

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

A group of Rolls-Royce visitors led by RR CTO Paul Stain visit our UTC and a series of robots developed for On-Wing Technology were presented and demonstrated.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Sellafield

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Severn Trent

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Southwest Research Institute

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Spectris

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Industry Visit.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from Spectris

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from TEPCO

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from VNS(UK)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit from VS, METI, IRID

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit of Shadow-Robotics London with Final 4th Year MEng Group and 3rd Year Project Students

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visit of Shadow-Robotics (Richard Walker, Managerial Director) in London, 4 March 2019: A final, fourth year student group of five, a third year project student and a PhD-student at the University of Bristol, visited with me Shadow Robotics to gain further knowledge about the haptics enabled teleoperation system of Shadow-Robotics, their robotic hand and their involvement in nuclear robotics. This was an excellent opportunity for the final, fourth year student group as it is working on a teleoperation system in their final year project. The third year student is developing a tendon driven robotic hand. The knowledge exchange with Shadow Robotics can lead to further discussions in the area of teleoperation and hand control. (Reported for EPSRC's NCNR and RAIN)

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Visit to BEIS

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

National Robotics Strategy

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to Cavendish Nuclear

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Demonstrating of Decommissioning system

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to JAEA, Naraha

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

International Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to NASA

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visit to NASA

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to Ocado

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to Ocado

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for national collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to PaR Systems facility

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to Qinetiq

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Preparation for National Collaboration

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to RACE to develop secondment activities for 2019

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Meetings held to develop future RAIN research

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to Wandercraft (partner in MEMMO) in Paris. Nov 16

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visit to Wandercraft (partner in MEMMO) in Paris. Nov 16

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visit to Workington

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

National Collaboration - exploitation

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visited British Solar Renewables

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visited British Solar Renewables site Westmill Solar Farm to explore uses of autonomous robots in inspection and monitoring

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Visited Honda Research Institute

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Visited Honda Research Institute Europe for European Graduate Network Symposium

Visited Wood to have meetings about robotics R&D taking place, and how we can work together on future RAIN research, in particular in haptics and human factors areas

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visiting from Uniper

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Presented the continuum robots and walking robot developing in University of Nottingham, and identified several potential collaboration opportunities.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visitor from Rolls-Royce (Christ Nex)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

A visitor from Rolls-Royce (Christ Nex) came to our UTC to talk about the technology developed at our centre for On-Wing Maintenance, Repair and Operation and further plan in the view of the coming 5-years.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visitors from senior industrialists

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

At the launch event of Advanced Manufacturing Building, we present our Rolls-Royce UTC to about 200 visitors of senior industrialists.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

WMSym - Phoenix

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

8 Papers Delivered

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

We were host to a visit by Professor Abdallah Lyoussi, Expert Internationale from the CEA and the University of Aix Marseille, Provence, France.

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

We were host to Professor Abdallah Lyoussi in the context of nuclear radiation measurement activities and the integration of a dedicated workshop session on this topic in the IEEE ANIMMA and IEEE NSS-MIC conferences this year.